Self Harm

Self mutilation is a topic that is avoided by everybody; i.e. parents, teachers, students. It is a scary topic, but when is anything serious not scary? It is becoming such a huge issue yet a lot of people turn a blind eye to it, or just do the easiest thing they can think of, which is usually push the issue off of their shoulders so another person can handle it since most people can't handle that kind of pressure.

What can you do when someone is hurting themselves? That's an answer that I don't think anybody will ever actually be able to answer, because its not really something that is easy to understand. In fact, the only way to really understand it is when you have already done it. I'm not saying that everybody should go experiment, I'm just saying that instead of ignoring the problem, think about it.

How can we really think about something that we apparently can't understand? Easy. Here's a scenario for you, their is a girl that notices scratches on her friends arm, when she starts talking to her friend about it the friend says, "I do it because it gives me a release and makes me feel better." Most the time, people in a situation like this just assume that the friend wants attention instead of thinking about it scientifically.

When a person is seriously stressed or depressed, things are just hard to get sorted out, so when said person cuts, their body releases endorphins which are the bodies natural chemicals that relieve pain and stress, so if you know somebody that cuts, don't just brush it off and say its an attempt at getting attention. Just listen to what they say.

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Okay, first off, I love you. This is just absolutely brilliant. As someone who has cut for over five years, this is one of the most encouraging things I have ever seen. So many people either grossly under-react or over-react when they find out a friend or family member cuts that it's dangerous to say anything to anyone. When people try to help they sometimes do the one thing that makes it dangerous for people to try to help themselves. I'm just really, really grateful that you've written this.

It's nice that you have chosen to write about such a dark topic. There are a few run on sentences but it's still understandable. I'm glad you mentioned the scientific part of cutting however I think you could have added more to the whole article. It is good though :) I like it :)

I agree with what was said about run on sentences and such. This is a good start for a piece and I'm glad you are bringing light to a dark issue. there were a few errors such as when you said their in the second paragraph, it should have been "There." To really improve this piece you might want to add more details, such as with testimonies, statistics, more facts, etc. But for a piece of this length, it was very good. Please check out some of my work!!

correct me if i'm wrong, but i always thought pain released a tiny shot of adrenaline. Adrenaline is a natural stress reliever and addictive, thus why it is so hard to quit. Arent endorphins for happiness? If pain brought happiness the whole world would be masochistic, yes?

It releases endorphins...The only reason that everybody isn't a masochist is because not everybody wants to experiment with that...I think different levels of pain tolerance may have some sort of affect along with the human psyche

It was a great article i went through the situation of the girl, like i was the one who what doing the self harm. I can say honestly now im glad that part of my life is over. Im glad someone is getting to this topic. I thank you.

I really enjoyed this though and the insight you give. You have quite a talent with writing and you should continue. It's very true how people just brush off things and ignore what you say and make up their own assumptions. So very very true and prevelant in my life. Good point.

This article is a good start, but it has some structural flaws that detract from your message. First off, you use really long sentences. That's not bad--I personally use a lot of long sentences as well--but check to make sure that they aren't run-ons. For example, this sentence

"It is becoming such a huge issue yet a lot of people turn a blind eye to it, or just do the easiest thing they can think of, which is usually (to) push the issue off of their shoulders so another person can han... (more »)

I also enjoyed reading this, it was very interesting. However, like the others pointed out there are some run-ons. Also maybe make it a bit longer and put more of the science behind it or cite the part about the endorphins-just a thought.